1 Fitchburg brother guilty of manslaughter

WORCESTER — One of two Fitchburg brothers charged in a 2009 double slaying was acquitted on two counts of murder Thursday, while the other was convicted of a single count of manslaughter.

Jose A. Carrion, 32, and Orville Carrion, 27, were both charged with two counts of murder in a Sept. 6, 2009, altercation on Mechanic Street in Fitchburg that left two teens dead.

A Worcester Superior Court jury found Orville Carrion not guilty on charges of murdering 18-year-old Nelson Geraldino and 17-year-old Pedro Genao. Jose Carrion was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Mr. Geraldino and not guilty on the charge of murdering Mr. Genao.

Judge Daniel M. Wrenn scheduled Jose Carrion's sentencing for Monday morning. Orville Carrion was expected to be released from custody later in the day, according to his lawyer, E. Peter Parker.

The defense maintained the two brothers were defending themselves and each other at the time of the killings. The prosecution disputed that claim.

Mr. Geraldino and Mr. Genao both suffered gunshot and stab wounds.

The violence erupted outside the apartment building at 96 Mechanic St., Fitchburg, where the Carrions lived, after words were exchanged between the brothers and people leaving a party in the building, according to authorities. The dispute was said to have been over a car that was blocked in.

During his closing argument in the case Wednesday, Jose Carrion's lawyer, Elliot M. Weinstein, asked the jury to consider that the Carrion brothers were outnumbered when the fight broke out and that one of their opponents was armed with a machete. Mr. Parker described the altercation as chaotic and said his client suffered a deep cut across the back of his head by a blow from a machete.

Calling the brothers "a virtual death squad," Assistant District Attorney John E. Bradley Jr., said Orville Carrion fired five shots from a handgun, hitting both victims and a third man who survived, while Jose Carrion stabbed one of the victims five times and the other twice. The prosecutor alleged that the brothers "acted as a team" in causing the deaths.

The jury of six men and six women heard about two weeks worth of testimony and deliberated for about 5½ hours Thursday before rendering the verdicts.

District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. later said he was disappointed at the outcome, but respected the jury's verdicts.

Jose Carrion, who was ordered held without bail pending Monday's sentencing hearing, is facing a maximum of 20 years in state prison on the manslaughter conviction.